Tuesday, February 8, 2011

THE ELEGANCE OF THE HEDGEHOG by Muriel Barbery

3. 3/4

Synopsis:﻿

In a bourgeois apartment building in Paris, we encounter Renée, an intelligent, philosophical, and cultured concierge who masks herself as the stereotypical uneducated “super” to avoid suspicion from the building’s pretentious inhabitants. Also living in the building is Paloma, the adolescent daughter of a parliamentarian, who has decided to commit suicide on her thirteenth birthday because she cannot bear to live among the rich. Although they are passing strangers, it is through Renée’s observations and Paloma’s journal entries that The Elegance of the Hedgehog reveals the absurd lives of the wealthy. That is until a Japanese businessman moves into the building and brings the two characters together. A critical success in France, the novel may strike a different chord with some readers in the U.S. The plot thins at moments and is supplanted with philosophical discourse on culture, the ruling class, and the injustices done to the poor, leaving the reader enlightened on Kant but disappointed with the story at hand.

4 comments:

I have heard the complaint that this book wouldn't work in English before.

I have read it in Italian, a language closer to French than English is, and I liked it, though I share your opinion that the plot is thin. I had the impression that the book constantly "blinked" at the cultured audience. When you read it, you're constantly saying "oh, I've read this author", or "I got this reference", but sometimes you're frustrated because you haven't read that book or seen that film.

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Born in Paris, France to an American mother (Boston) and a French father (Paris). I was raised in Zurich, Swizerland, Paris, France and Monaco. Then on to the States. I have 3 sons, one born in Nice, France, one born in San-Francisco, California and the last one in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania. My passions are reading in several languages, photography, movies, my Jack Russell "Oliver", he is the BEST! truly a girl's best friend!!